Somethin' Special
by Lunar1
Summary: Heavy spoilers for 'The Empty Child.'


"We... uh, we're just going out.."

Her tone was would-be casual, but the way she was chewing her lip and the awkward stance she had adopted as she stood in the doorway betrayed her discomfort.

He looked up from where he was sprawled in his high-backed, velvet padded chair. He seemed at home in his elegantly furnished library, she realised, a huge leather bound book in his hands.

His eyes flickered to where her fingers curled around her TARDIS key, knuckles white. He shrugged, trying to appear more disaffected by her statement than he actually was. "You don't need to ask my permission," he replied with a casual shrug, "I'm sure Jack..." he dragged out the word, his lip curling as he spoke the name,"can keep you safe."

"I'm sure he can," she replied tartly, "But I can look after myself as well."

He made no reply, but there was something in his eyes that suggested he didn't quite believe her. It made her boiling mad.

"What's that look supposed to mean?" she demanded, entering the quiet sanctuary of the library. It smelt of antique wood and leather, a luxuriantly thick carpet covering the floor.

"What look?" he snapped back, the smack of the book closing sharply making her flinch.

"You think I can't take care of myself?"

"No."

There was a dangerous pause, steely blue eyes locked on hazel. "What then?"

He hesitated for a moment, anger battling it out with common sense. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, and anger won out. There was a manic glint in his eyes, one she'd seen before, but never when he was looking at her. "You like letting Jack play hero, don't you Rose?" he said, voice low.

He'd intended it to be a killer blow, for her to stand speechless whilst he brushed past her, like the smug bastard he knew he was being.

But Rose was more like the Doctor than he'd care to admit. He stood up, made as if to move past her–

"Jealous, are you?" Her voice was mocking as she blocked his way.

"Jealous?" he scoffed. "No, I just _love_ roaming the galaxy, finding new members of the Rose Tyler fan-club. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to come past."

"Fan-club? Oh, and what does that make you? The founding member?" Her face twisted as she spat the words at him.

For a moment he was silent, and some of the anger drained out of his face, replaced by a slightly saddened look. "I'm terminating my membership. Give me your key."

"You can't just leave me here!"

"I didn't say I was going to. I'm giving it to Jack. You can be his... _liability_ now."

He expected her to shout something at him. Call him a name. What he _wasn't_ expecting was the ringing slap. She caught him hard across his face with a blow that almost knocked him over, partly from the force, partly from the shock. He touched a hand to his mouth and his fingers came away shiny with berry red blood. One of her rings had split the skin on his lip.

"Stop it, Doctor," she said, and there was pity in her face now, "You're being pathetic."

With that, she was gone. A few moments later he heard the front door of the TARDIS slam shut.

* * *

She stirred her drink for the umpteenth time. It was electric blue and had seemed exciting when she ordered it. Now it just looked sickly. Across the room Jack was talking animatedly to an exotic looking woman with a large blade slung across her back. She wasn't wearing a great deal, and what she _was_ wearing was almost entirely constructed from figure hugging leather.

Rose stirred her drink again. She didn't really care who Jack was talking to at the moment. Her thoughts were TARDIS bound, centred on the utterly shocked look on the Doctor's face as she had stood over him, his blood on his fingers and her hand stinging from the slap she had given him.

"_I'm terminating my membership."_ Her stomach contracted queasily as she remembered his words, a mixture of hot shame and gut-wrenching loss. She hated it when the Doctor was angry with her.

Jack glanced across the bar and gave her a small smile. She returned it weakly and finally took a sip of her drink. It was pleasantly sweet and she took another, deeper gulp.

"_You can be his... _liability_ now."_ She drained the glass as a surge of anger passed through her. _Just who does he think he is? _she thought, mutinously, _It's not like he hasn't gotten us into some scrapes._

She ordered another glass of the same drink. Jack's friend has drawn her sword now and he was admiring the blade. She watched it as if it were occurring on a distant planet rather than right in front of her. The woman placed the weapon in his hands, holding her own on top of the time-traveller's as if to show him how to hold it correctly.

Her drink arrived.

It was a thinly veiled disguise to touch one another, she realised, as the time-traveller and the alien's fingers lingered on one another's. For a moment she thought of duffel coats, and found tears were welling up in her eyes. She drowned them in her drink, chugging the whole lot in one go.

She put the glass back down on the bar and hopped down off the bar stool. At least, that was her intention, but her feet weren't entirely up on current events and she ended up sprawling on the floor in an undignified manner. Obviously the electric blue goo was rather more potent than she had realised.

Blushing slightly she pulled herself upright and walked over to Jack, concentrating to keep her gait steady. He looked slightly guilty, she realised, but she couldn't muster the energy to make him squirm.

"I'm heading back to the TARDIS," she said, "Don't feel too great."

"Oh," he replied, "Do you want me to–?"

"Nah. Stay 'ere and 'ave a good time. Don't worry about me. I can find my way back."

"If you're sure," he said, his face concerned but something like relief in his eyes that might, in other circumstances, have been hurtful.

She nodded. "Very sure." She handed him the TARDIS key. "See you later."

She felt his eyes on her as she left the bar. Outside, she leaned against the rough wall of the bar and took in a deep gulp of the night air. For all of his strange mystique, for all the attractiveness of his exciting origins, Jack Harkness shared in some areas a similarity with a great deal of men she had known back on Earth. In spite of that he'd make a better companion than Adam. Maybe even a better companion than herself, she mused as she set off back to the TARDIS.

Jack and the Doctor got on. Currently, she'd have put the odds on Rose Tyler being the next out of the TARDIS door, back to her mundane Earthly existence. It was only when she and the Doctor talked alone that he would speak Jack's name with a sneer; only when he looked at her that a coldness would claim his eyes, and a harsh detachment creep into his voice.

The TARDIS stood in front of her, the blue colour almost silvery in the light of twin moons. Somehow, it seemed to blend into its alien surroundings better than it did Earthly streets.

The door opened under her hand, a fact for which she was grateful. She didn't want to have to face the embarrassment of going back to the bar to reclaim her key to get in, God knew what Jack and his alien conquest might be doing. If, indeed they were still in the bar (although there seemed precious little elsewhere to go). Equally, she would have been mortified at having to knock and summon the Doctor.

He wasn't in the control room, which surprised her. Normally the Doctor was always tinkering when they made these brief rest and relaxation stops. Somewhere, on the edge of hearing, she could hear singing. Intrigued, she set off to find the source of the music.

It was coming from an area of the TARDIS she had yet to really explore, the corridors and doors unfamiliar to her. The vocalist had finished, and now something she lacked the words to describe was taking place, on some tinkly string instrument that sounded a little like a harp. She'd never been a fan of classical music, but this was something else; something breathtakingly beautiful in its intricacy. She found her feet were moving, taking her to the source of the sound even though the dwindling logical part of her mind reasoned that the Doctor was probably somewhere nearby, and now might not be the best time to see him.

The door to the room where the music was coming from was open. It was another of the beautiful rooms, furnished like a country manor. The Doctor was sprawled on a chaise-longue, hands behind his head, and for once he wasn't wearing his leather jacket. The thin material of his jumper (the green one that always seemed to accompany the jacket, she thought with a smile) was stretched tightly across his chest. In spite of the dim lighting, she could see every muscle in his torso. There was dried blood on his lip and she wondered why he hadn't healed the wound in the med-lab.

He glanced up and saw her, framed in the doorway again. He acquiesced her unspoken request for entrance with a nod of his head and she came and sat on the chaise, by his feet.

The music finished. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he said.

She found herself nodding. "Yeah, actually, it ain't bad."

"It's from my home," he added, his voice constricting around the last word. "It's Gallifreyan. I'm sorry for what I said earlier, Rose. You were right. I am jealous."

She found herself staring at the open doorway, a square of bright light that almost hurt her eyes. "'Ave you been drinking or something?"

He sniffed. "Not as much as you have. Herallian Sunset, was it?"

"Dunno. I only ordered it because it was blue."

He laughed, and she felt warm relief spread through her body. The Doctor she had come to know and love was back.

Her thoughts tangled themselves unpleasantly. _Come to love?_

"You ought to be careful you know. That stuff's stronger than most whiskey. For humans anyway." He touched his split lip with a finger. "Next time we get into a fight, by the way, slap them."

"Sorry," she said, sincerely.

He shrugged. "I deserved it. I was being a prat. I wish you and Jack all the best–"

"Me and Jack? Doctor, there's nothin' going on between us."

"Oh, come on, I'm not bli–"

"He's still at the bar. With some alien bird. And I couldn't care less."

"An alien _bird?_"

It was her turn to laugh out loud. "Not an actual _bird_. A woman." He laughed too, hooking his foot around her playfully. "Nice socks."

"Thank you."

"Where _do_ you get all of your clothes from, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. You sure you couldn't care less?"

Her smile faded a little. "Yeah. I wouldn't have said otherwise."

"No, I mean, if he's not being very nice I could give him a little scare. Make him think we're going to dump him out of an airlock somewhere."

"Like Adam?"

He shrugged. "If you like."

She shook her head. "I really don't mind, Doctor. He was..." she thought for a moment, and smiled, "A bit pretty. But... he's too much like just about every other bloke I've ever been out with."

"What, a time traveller from the future?"

She smacked his leg lightly. "You know what I meant."

He smiled again. "You're looking for something a bit more unique?"

She realised her heart was beating far too quickly, as she wondered exactly where this conversation was taking her.

"Yeah. Somethin' special."

He sat up suddenly, making her jump, bringing his face closer to her own. Her stomach seemed to be doing backflips. She hoped he wasn't about to kiss her, because her mouth was so dry she was sure her lips were cemented together.

His thumb traced the line of her cheek. "I'm glad I found you, Rose Tyler."

She cleared her throat. "'M glad you found me too." The silence ballooned, suspense drawn out until she could bear it no longer. "Doctor?"

The moment was broken and he looked away at last, and sighed. "I'm sorry Rose." He rubbed his forehead with his hand, as if afflicted with a sudden headache.

"Sorry for what? What you done now?"

He met her eyes, his gaze frightening in its intensity. "For this."

"For wh–"

His lips brushed hers, the gentlest of kisses. She found herself frozen until he moved as if to pull away. She moved with him, unwilling to relinquish contact and he deepened the kiss. Her arms sneaked around his broad shoulders, hands linking behind his neck as he pulled her into an embrace.


End file.
